


Changing Places

by Tarlan



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Collection: Fandom Stocking 2014, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-01 23:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2791103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a ghost and seeing Damon was better than being alive and alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changing Places

**Author's Note:**

  * For [angelus2hot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelus2hot/gifts).



> Written for Angelus2hot for Fandom Stocking 2014

When he crossed back from the Other Side it never occurred to him that he would be vampire rather than human - the way he had died. He wasn't just any vampire though because Esther had turned him just as she had turned her husband and children all those centuries ago. He was an Original like the Mikaelsons. For once he could have turned the tables on Damon, letting him feel what it was like to be compelled, and how it felt to have his neck snapped, the way Damon had broken his neck on a whim when in a pissed mood.

He was faster and stronger than a normal vampire.

Except all of that seemed petty now, and Alaric was beyond such juvenile antics despite being over a century younger than Damon.

Of course it should have occurred to him that he'd come back as a vampire but at the time he was still reeling first from the joy of being able to touch Damon again, followed by the grief when the bridge collapsed and Damon was left behind. The end result was them changing places, except the Other Side didn't exist anymore so Damon wasn't sitting on the bar stool beside him, haunting him the way he had haunted Damon. Alaric would not have the chance to tell Damon he had heard his maudlin confessions comparing Elena to a Summer love and him to forever. Or that he returned the sentiment and the desire in full, wishing he had found the courage to speak while they both still lived.

He would not be able to lead Damon to his bed and show him exactly how much he was loved.

Damon was gone, and Alaric felt a big hole in his heart from that loss.

He poured himself another whiskey - the good stuff - and raised his glass in salute as bittersweet memories and regrets threatened to overwhelm him. If he had the chance to change places again he would take it, deciding it would be far better to be a ghost yet still able to see Damon, than be back among the living knowing Damon was gone forever.

At least he was able to spare Elena the grief by compelling away her memories of her love for Damon, and he wished he could have shown himself the same mercy.

Only days later everything changed.

He was fully human again after the incident at the magic border, and Damon was back - and wasn't it just like Damon to escape one death sentence for another almost immediately when Tripp Cooke came upon him in Elena's college room.

As he lay in the hospital bed surrounded by monitors, all pretense fell away when he reached out and touched Damon, feeling solid flesh beneath his fingertips. In that moment he decided he wasn't going to risk another minute lost in regret, and he took a chance that nothing had changed between them in those missing months. The complaints about him compelling away Elena's love dropped immediately as those intense blue eyes darkened with desire for him.

For the first time in months Alaric felt whole again.

He hadn't expected to miss being a vampire this quickly, but with the future now stretching out before him and Damon, he willingly drank the droplets of vampire blood Damon dripped into his mouth. He closed his eyes as Damon kissed him, barely having time to register the snap of his neck at vampire speed.

When he opened his eyes later, a vampire once more, Damon was smirking as he leaned in to kiss him again.

END  
.


End file.
